Duchess’s uncle hit wife ‘after coke row’
BRITAIN: The Duchess of Cambridge’s uncle attacked his wife after a row during which she accused him of taking cocaine, it was revealed yesterday after he pleaded guilty to assault.
Gary Goldsmith, the younger brother of the duchess’s mother, Carole Middleton, punched wife Julie-Ann, leaving her unconscious on the pavement outside their home, after they had returned by taxi from a charity auction at a private members’ club in central London last month, Westminster magistrates’ court was told.
The taxi driver who witnessed the attack has described how the couple were arguing. Daniel Shepherd told The Times: ‘‘She was accusing him of sniffing loads of cocaine.‘‘
He said Julie-Ann Goldsmith verbally abused her husband, then slapped him when he went over to her while she was trying to open the front door of their home.
‘‘He turned around with an almighty left hook in the face. She seemed to be unconscious on the ground,’’ Shepherd said.
‘‘It ended in total mayhem. I have restrained a member of the royal family - 200 years ago, I’d have been beheaded for that.’’
A police officer who interviewed Gary Goldsmith said he had apologised.
Goldsmith, who made a fortune from a recruitment business, was caught preparing cocaine at his villa in Ibiza and boasting of his connections with the royal family by a tabloid newspaper in 2009.